The church is located in a village where the most famous Polish beekeeper, priest Jan Dzierżon, lived and worked.

History

The church in Maciejów was mentioned in 1446. In 1532, it was taken over by evangelicals. The present small church was probably founded at the turn of the sixteenth century into the seventeenth. In 1850, during a storm, the church tower was destroyed; the remains of the tower were covered with a roof extension. The southern porch, sacristy in the present enlarged from, external staircase leading to the founders' gallery, which was originally accessible from inside the chancel, are older than the body of the church. The church underwent renovation in 1969. It served as a filial church of the Evangelical parish in Kluczbork.

Description

The church is located in the central part of the village, at the intersection of roads. It is oriented towards the east, surrounded by a small cemetery with valuable historic tombstones and single trees.

The church was built on a plan consisting of an almost square nave and a narrower chancel closed off on three sides, with a rectangular sacristy to the north. The nave adjoins a small porch to the south and a vestibule, which is equal in width to the nave, to the west. The compact body of the church is devoid of a dominant feature. The roof covering the nave and the western vestibule consists of three planes with dormers in the western part; the chancel is covered with a saddle roof with three smaller planes to the east. Over the sacristy there is a founders' gallery which can be accessed via roofed stairs.

The church is a wooden log structure built on a brick foundation. The western vestibule is a post-and-beam structure with transverse stiffeners. The external façades are partly covered with boards in a vertical arrangement; the roofs are clad with wood shingles. Window and door openings are surmounted by segmental arches.

The interior is covered with a false barrel vault, with flat ceiling sections on the sides. The rood openings is topped with a semicircular arch with a decorative slat and includes a chamfered rood beam with rounded braces and a sixteenth-century crucifix. The choir gallery rests on two profiled posts with raking shores, with a rectangular central part projecting to the front. The gallery by the south wall also rests on posts; its flat balustrades are covered with foliate decorations in concave arcades. In the chancel, there is an overhanging balcony of the founders' gallery. The Baroque architectural main altar was made in 1696; the balustrade in front of the altar was installed in 1851. The pulpit and the baptismal font date from around 1700, while the pipe organ from 1861.

The monument is open to visitors. Viewing of the interior is possible by prior telephone arrangement.

compiled by Ewa Kalbarczyk-Klak, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warszawa, 05-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, t. VII, Województwo opolskie, z. 4: Powiat kluczborski, red. T. Chrzanowski i M. Kornecki, s. 36.
• Emmerling D., Wierzgoń A., Opolskie kościoły drewniane, Opole 2006, s. 49.
• Karta ewidencyjna zabytku architektury: Kościół ewangelicki, filialny, Maciejów, oprac. J. Kowalewski, 1996, Archiwum WUOZ w Opolu.
• Śląsk. Zabytki Sztuki w Polsce, oprac. zbiorowe, Warszawa 2006, s. 549.
• Lutsch Hans, Verzeichnis der Kunstdenkmäler der Provinz Schlesien, Bd. 4: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Reg.-Bezirks Oppeln, Tl. 1, Breslau 1894, s. 14.
• Matuszczyk J., Architektura drewnianych kościołów ewangelickich w powiecie kluczborskim, Rocznik Muzeum Górnośląskiego w Bytomiu, Sztuka, z. 4, Bytom 1968, s. 12 i nn.